Charlotte woke as they were crossing the village to Rick and Evy's dwelling, wondering at the odd floating feeling she had been experiencing, and then realising what it was as Ardeth carried her along. "What are you doing?" she asked, blinking up at him.
"We are going to eat with the O'Connells. Then we will be leaving," Ardeth explained, angling her so he could take her through the doorway without hitting her head or feet on the frame.
She didn't know what to say to him, so she remained quiet, her face hot under the amused looks she got from Evy and Rick. Billy and Libby were both sitting on the floor playing with his prized train, oblivious to everyone else in the room.
"I hope you're hungry," Evy said as Ardeth put Charlotte on her feet. "Because the women came in a few minutes ago with so much food my eyes almost popped out of my head! As you can see, Rick has forgotten his manners and started eating already!"
Rick grinned up at her before taking another huge mouthful of what looked like stew. Charlotte felt her stomach grumble at the smell and she sat down, accepting the bowl of food Evy handed her along with a plate of bread. Ardeth sat nearby and also took some stew, selecting some dried meat and fruit from the bounty on the small table as well. They all ate in a companionable silence, the only speaking coming from the children who were managing to get food all over themselves as they ate.
Charlotte took on the task of cleaning them up and changing their clothing, her last duties before they were to leave them with the villagers. She hugged her brother when he was clean enough to touch and he hugged her back fiercely, his small arms winding around her neck. "I love you Charlotte," he said, resting his head on her shoulder.
"I know, poppet. I love you too, I'll miss you," she whispered, feeling sad to be leaving him, the first time she had ever willingly done so.
Ardeth stepped up and touched her shoulder, looking concerned. "He will be fine. He will have fun whilst he is here, and will be safe and sound when you return."
"I know," she said, reluctantly putting her brother down. Billy instantly raised his arms to Ardeth, beaming when he was lifted up and cuddled by him as well.
"You will behave for my people, will you not? Make your sister proud of you?" Ardeth asked him, smiling.
Billy nodded and kissed Ardeth's cheek. "I love you Ardeth," he told him, not shy in voicing his emotions when he felt like it.
Ardeth looked taken aback for a moment before replying. "And I you." He kissed the small face and then put him down, standing up to look into Charlotte's eyes. "You are still worried?"
"Not really, no," she said hesitantly. Her breath caught when he reached up to caress her face.
"I do not like it when you are troubled," Ardeth admitted, his voice gruff.
"Ardeth," Rick said, breaking the intimate moment. "Down boy," he said quietly, nudging his desert friend. "Come on, we've got to load the horses up."
Ardeth nodded and left the house, leaving the two women to clear up and make their final goodbyes to the children. His aunts had already clustered around the house, waiting to take the youngsters when the visitors left.
Before long, Charlotte found herself back on a horse, this time the one she had ridden before, and she grimaced as she tried to get comfortable. It was getting dark again and she wasn't looking forward to another long night riding through the desert, but she remembered all too well what it had been like riding during the day, and she knew that there was sense in this approach. It didn't make her backside feel any more comfortable as they began their journey though, and she fidgeted around in the saddle.
Ardeth rode up next to her and took her reins, tying them to his saddle. "Here," he said, handing her a thick blanket. "Put this underneath you, it will make the journey easier on your...seat," he said, hesitating over what word to use.
Charlotte took the blanket and wadded it up, placing it beneath her bottom. She had to admit it was much softer and she felt herself relaxing. "Thank you," she said, reaching to take her reins back.
"No, leave them here," Ardeth said, gently taking her hand. "I will guide you, and you can rest. If you need to hold onto something, then the front of the saddle will provide you with more balance."
Charlotte held the saddle with her free hand and slumped slightly, letting her body move with the sway of the animal. This was much better. But she felt odd having Ardeth holding her hand when she knew he didn't really want her, so she withdrew hers and placed that on the saddle too, keeping her eyes front so she didn't have to look at his temptingly handsome face.
She therefore didn't see the deep frown that he gave when she withdrew her hand, nor the way he briefly closed his eyes as if in pain and then turned his face away, resuming his scan of the dark desert.
After an hour of no speaking and no eye contact, Charlotte felt even more unsettled. She bit her lip and tried to think of something to say. "How long have you..er...how long have you been a warrior?"
Ardeth was surprised at the sound of her voice, having gotten used to riding in silence. "I have been a warrior since my thirteenth year. Why do you ask?"
"Just...curious. So, how long have you been leader?"
"I have been leader now for fifteen years," Ardeth said, not elaborating, dropping silent again once he had answered the question. He didn't feel in the mood for idle chit-chat with this woman who he felt had snubbed his talk of marriage. Uncharacteristically for him, he found himself sulking.
Charlotte risked a glance at him, just about able to make him out in the deepening darkness. He didn't look very happy, she thought, and wondered if it was because of her, because he felt forced into marrying her. Well, she had told him that he didn't have to sacrifice himself just to give her a good name, so he had no reason to be angry. She frowned as she studied him more closely. Why, he looked just like Billy did when he sulked, she thought.
"How old are you?"
"Why?" he asked, not bothering to give her the answer.
"I was curious," she said, shrugging and feeling a little irritated at his attitude.
"You are very curious about things that do not concern you!" Ardeth said between his teeth, getting angry as his body tried to urge him to grab her and carry her off so they could be alone and he could force her to accept the fact that she would be his wife.
Charlotte's mouth dropped open at his harsh tone. "Well, excuse me for asking. In future I won't bother trying to find anything out about you, you're obviously not that interesting!"
"You do not know enough about me to make that assumption," Ardeth said, his voice harder than ever.
"No, because you won't tell me anything!" Her mouth clicked shut when she realised her voice was getting louder and that the others must be able to hear.
"If you did not find the thought of being my wife so disgusting then you would be able to find out all about me!" Ardeth shot back, involuntarily naming the one thing that had really dismayed him; that she thought him undesirable.
"I do not find it disgusting!" she said, aghast that he thought that. Surely she hadn't come across to him as being repulsed by the thought?
"Then why did you try to squirm out of it?"
"I did not...!" she burst out, her voice getting louder again.
"You cannot deny it, you refused any idea of being my wife! I did not make the offer lightly..."
Charlotte's temper came to the fore, equally matching his. "Offer? That was an offer? You told me I was your wife already, without even bothering to find out what I might want!"
"Do not trouble yourself over it, Miss Carnahan! I take back the offer as of this moment. It is obvious to me that you would rather be thought of as a whore than as my wife! So be it!" He ripped her reins from his saddle and flung them at her, riding off to the front of the group to be with his men.
She watched him disappear and the inky blackness closed around her, making her shiver. She hated the dark, had always been afraid of it, but so far she had not been left alone long enough for her fear to show. And it wouldn't show now, she determined, stiffening her back and taking up the reins. She didn't want him to have the satisfaction of seeing her scared again, so he could act like the big man and protect her. Okay, so that protection had felt fairly nice, but he could be so unreasonable. She fumed silently as she rode along on her own, feeling vulnerable and unwanted being at the back of the large group. There weren't even any men guarding the rear, she thought, and almost giggled hysterically as visions of her being kidnapped and taken off, before they could do anything, filled her head.
She swallowed the hysteria and willed herself to remain calm, after all, she had been in far worse situations. Yes, her mind helpfully reminded her, but those situations happened in the desert too.
Evy and Rick rode side by side and looked at each other. "I could just smack Ardeth sometimes," Evy said quietly, angry at the argument they had just overheard.
"Come on, honey, she isn't exactly the innocent party in all this. You heard the things she said to him!"
"Typical man! Protect your own kind! Ardeth should have more patience!"
"So should she! And guess what, she reminded me of you!"
"He's left her all alone! Would you have done that to me?" Evy demanded.
"Well, when we first met I would gladly have left you to be eaten in the desert," Rick mused, receiving a slap on his thigh. "Okay, okay! No, I wouldn't leave you on your own. Listen, you drop back and ride with Charlotte, I'll go and have a word with Ardeth."
Evy instantly slowed her horse and waited for Charlotte to catch up before moving off again. "Are you okay?"
Charlotte nodded and then realised that Evy probably couldn't see her. "I'm fine," she said, pleased that her voice sounded reasonably calm. "I suppose you heard all that?"
"Well, we couldn't avoid it really, sorry. Ardeth sounded quite angry," Evy said, trying to pick her words carefully.
"You noticed that? Yes, he was angry, but he's got no right to be!"
"No? He was right though, wasn't he? You did turn him down?"
"He didn't ask me, Evy. He as good as told me that he was duty bound to marry me. I couldn't marry him under those circumstances," Charlotte said, her voice so low that Evy barely heard her.
"But you could marry him under other circumstances?"
"If he loved me, if he really wanted me. But he doesn't and I couldn't bear to be a burden, it wouldn't be fair." She took a shaky breath and studied the stars that were rapidly starting to dot the sky. "Besides, it doesn't matter anymore does it? He branded me a whore instead."
"He said that in anger, he didn't mean it," Evy said, trying to sound reassuring.
"How do you know that? He sounded fairly sure of his words to me. Well," she said, straightening her shoulders. "That's just fine with me, I don't need him trying to touch me anymore, or trying to kiss me. He may think I'm a whore, but I'm not going to act like one for him!"
Evy sat silent as Charlotte finished her rant. It hadn't sounded to her like Ardeth really thought of Charlotte as a whore, but Charlotte was obviously not seeing that his words had been said in the heat of the moment. She only hoped Rick could smooth things over with Ardeth.
Rick joined the group of warriors and picked his way carefully through them until he found Ardeth. He was sitting at the front of them, not speaking but staring stonily ahead.
"So, how you doing?" Rick asked him, trying to sound more jovial than he felt.
Ardeth turned his head slightly to look at his friend and grunted, not bothering to speak. "I guess that means you're feeling really bad about what you just said to Charlotte, huh?"
"No!"
"Of course not. Why feel bad about calling her a whore. After all, she is one isn't she?" Rick said, smiling smugly as if he had every right to say such a thing. He saw the flash of white teeth as Ardeth's lips drew back in a snarl of anger.
"She is not a whore!"
"Of course she is! You said so, didn't you? Didn't she share a room with you and then refuse to marry you? That makes her a whore in my book..." He didn't expect the blow that landed on his jaw, knocking him straight out of the saddle to end up in a heap on the sand.
Ardeth jumped from his horse, obviously prepared to continue the fight, and Rick quickly stood up so he could defend himself if need be.
Evy heard the commotion and squinted as she tried to see what was happening. She could make out the horses milling about and decided to move in for a closer look. "Oh my God, they're fighting!" she gasped out as she got close enough to see, and she spurred her horse faster, followed closely by Charlotte.
The two women jumped down from their horses as they reached the two men who were circling each other. "Rick, what do you think you are doing?" Evy asked him, shocked that the two friends were about to come to blows.
"Move away Evy, I don't want you getting hurt by this idiot!"
Ardeth drew in a sharp breath and pulled his arm back preparing to punch Rick again, but Charlotte stepped in front of him and grabbed his wrist, trying to push him back. "What are you doing? Move!" Ardeth ordered her, his eyes glinting down angrily into hers.
"I will not! You stop this right now!" Charlotte said, trying to sound braver than she felt.
"What on earth are you fighting about?" Evy said, moving in front of Rick and closing her hands over his fists gently, lowering his arms.
"He called her a whore!" Ardeth said, obviously still fuming.
"I only repeated what you'd said, buddy, let's not forget that shall we?" Rick replied, grinning tightly.
"Rick, you didn't!" Evy gasped out, appalled that he had said such a thing about Charlotte.
"Yes, I did. But unlike him, I didn't mean it. I just wanted to see what his reaction might be, and look what happened!"
"I have never thought of her in such a way," Ardeth protested, stopping short when Charlotte shoved him hard enough to knock the wind out of him.
"Yes you have, you liar! You just called me a whore yourself, and now here you are picking a fight just because someone else dared to do the same! I hate you!" she shouted and then burst into tears, completely overloaded with emotion now and ashamed of the way she was being spoken about in front of all these people. She turned and ran away from them all, stopping some distance away and sinking down onto the sand.
"I'll go to her," Evy said, moving to walk away. Ardeth stopped her.
"No, I will go," he said, then turned to his men. "Make camp here for an hour, I will return shortly."
"Ardeth, wait," Evy said, touching his upper arm lightly before he had a chance to leave them. He looked sharply at his men and they took the hint, moving away and busying themselves hobbling the animals.
"What is it, Evy?"
"Before you go off and have yet another argument with Charlotte, I think there's something I ought to explain about her," Evy said, trying for a reasonable tone of voice.
Ardeth frowned. "What, for instance?"
"Charlotte has some...er...self-esteem issues," she said, grimacing.
"Meaning?"
"Well, she doesn't seem to think that she's...well.."
"Oh for God's sake!" Rick said, moving Evy out of the way and standing in front of Ardeth himself. "She thinks she isn't pretty, mainly because her mother was beautiful and always told her she didn't match up to her in any way. She doesn't think she's good enough for you, or any other man, and you calling her a whore probably didn't make her feel any better!"
Ardeth was silent for a moment, obviously taking in what Rick had said. Without a word, he turned and walked away.
"Well, so much for explaining things," Evy murmured, watching as the tall robed man faded into the darkness of the desert. She looked up at her husband. "How's your jaw?"
Rick rubbed a hand across his chin. "Bruised. He sure hits hard when he's protecting her good name," he said dryly.
"Serves you right for calling Charlotte nasty names!"
"I only did it to get a rise out of him. It worked, didn't it?"
Evy sighed and snuggled against his side. "I hope so," she said.
